Letters

Letter of the weekI got your cork!Tricia Romano writes about the fight to keep the magic of New York Citys club scene [Put a Cork in It, December 2026], yet theres no mention of the people of color who have long been fighting to keep the fire lit! How white and hipster-centric of Romano. Is it that other races are only cool when hipsters can exploit their music for your tired irony/humor? Romanos one-sided perspective of this citys club culture reveals an even deeper dynamic plaguing edgy nightlife. This type of homogenization is whats killing this city, and hipsters are as complicit in the crime as the despised corporate lemmings, real estate whores, and stroller-wielding yoga mamas and Pilates papas. What made the houses that Levan, Humphries, and many others built was that people from all walks of life came together, had fun, and exchanged energies and ideas during tense political and social times. DJs played music crossing different genres, not what some shaggy-haired fuck from Pitchforkmedia told them was cool. Chris SaddlerDJ Contra Sounds, a white guy from Brooklyn

Bitter sweet
Jessica Jones's article on sugar addiction ["Sweet!," December 27, 2006January 2, 2007] was very real for me. I have the same addiction, but truly had to give up sugar when my weight went to 364 pounds and I developed Type II diabetes. I don't eat sugar whatsoever
and trust me, it is in almost all processed foods. Now I have raging hypoglycemic attacks because of my lifelong addiction. Cathy BroadusBoise, Idaho

Hmm . . . this might be the lamest article I've ever read in the Voice. I know the week between Christmas and New Year's is slow, but this is just embarrassing, not to mention kinda gross. I don't really need to imagine this woman's jaw "clicking" as she chows down on candy. Yuck. Rebecca Atwood Brooklyn

I applaud Jones's courage. Sugar and food addictions are probably the hardest to kick. I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia in 1976 and was told to never eat sugar again. For two years I didn't touch sugar, but I dreamed nightly of eating foods like ice cream and woke up so grateful I was only dreaming. I eat sugar occasionally, but I've never gotten addicted again. It will probably become much easier for Jones as time passes. A fact that might help her stay away from sugar: It feeds cancer.Cathy WoodManhattan

Last week you devoted your cover story to a guy who's outraged that customers in some clubs prefer to sit at tables and drink overpriced champagne than dance. This week, it's a woman in agony because she eats too much candy and wants to stop? Is there nothing of significance going on in the nation that you have to devote cover stories to chickenshit issues? The stuff you're doing now, TheOnion does better.Michael TaglieriManhattan

I love New York, but . . .
Rob Nelson needs to get off the island a little more and see this "flyover country" a bit. In his review of We Are Marshall [Tracking Shots, December 2026 ],
Nelson complains that there isn't enough racial tension or anti-Vietnam sentiment. He even manages to blend 9-11 into the review. Huh? The area where the real-life events of the film actually occurred is about 180 degrees from anything Lower Manhattan. It wasn't a hotbed of either of the movements Nelson mentions. If anything, the folks around here would be the first to understand the pain of 9-11 for New Yorkers because of the loss of that team in 1970. Pardon us for just being simple folk. The movie has some rough spots, but it's not worth tanking because it doesn't fit with the lifestyle or the things that are important to the Manhattan crowd. Collis P.Huntington, West Virginia

Perhaps I should know better than to expect an apolitical film analysis from The Village Voice, but I take issue with Nelson's review of We Are Marshall. This is a fairly simple film about one town's tragedy and its subsequent need to cope with the loss. Why, then, should a depiction of that tragedy, which revolves around a college football program, include what Nelson seems to view as a mandatory lecture on Vietnam-era politics and race relations? I find it refreshing that the film's audience is spared the clichés of racial tension and political strife that are often awkwardly and dutifully wedged into sports films set in the 1960s and 1970s.Zachary Benjamin Chicago, Illinois

Global warning
Re "Bush's War Crimes Cover-Up" [Nat Hentoff, December 1319 ]: As an outsider viewing the actions of the American military and administration (you can hardly call it government, can you?), I can assure you that regaining the reputation of your country in the eyes of the world is not going to happen anytime soon. Americans seem reluctant to even consider the potential criminality of their elected officials. Thank goodness there are some people in your country who are paying attention. Nevertheless, justice has taken such a shit- kicking, I doubt you will ever get back to the well-deserved level of respect that America had following World War II. In fact, I believe the country is going to crash and burn because of internal forces rather than any external threat.Greg NovikVancouver, British Columbia

Comic relief
Bring back Maakies. No excuses. You've ditched everyone else. At least give your loyal readers something that we actually liked about the paper. Bring back Ridgeway while you're at it. But at least bring back Maakies. Bring back Maakies, editors. And Savage on the last page? Kind of predictable, but generally acceptablejust don't push him past the last page, too. David SwoervodenBrooklyn

All God's children
As a queer who has only recently come out of the closet, I couldn't help but feel a little depressed reading Tristan Taormino's "Urban Buttgirl Meets Rural Right"
[December 27, 2006  January 2, 2007], about life as a queer in a predominantly Christian town. I identify with the kind of discomfort that Taormino feels in the midst of what sounds like a rather self-righteous Christian community, but it worries me that she attributes this kind of prudish anti-sexuality to Christianity and even religion in general. I take issue with this, because I think that to dismiss it as intrinsically homophobic is to cede control of the faith to the Church Lady faction. Christianity has a rich history of textual eroticism (Song of Songs). The saints of the Middle Ages engaged in all kinds of deviant behaviorsmasochism, scatophilia, imagined sex with Jesus. Poets like Saint John of the Cross employed thick and direct homoerotic imagery in their work. As early as the 1300s, a notion of Christ as trangender began to emerge, the wounds of the passion reconceptualized as vulvic. Scholars like Amy Hollywood have done some amazing work queering Christianity, laying the groundwork for a proudly queer and kinky Christianity. Gwen Snyder Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Maybe not . . .
I am writing about Dan Savage's column. I have seen Savage Love, and I'm absolutely disgusted and repulsed by it. I think you will find that most normal, straight-thinking Americans feel likewise. It is distasteful, irreverent, vile, and absolutely horrible. I can't believe stuff like this is published. What has become of this once great nation? Both Savage and the people who write to him need to repent and turn to Jesus Christ. Their lifestyles are not pleasing to God. Whether they believe in Christ or not does not change the fact that he is real and that he will judge all. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.Jon BerkepilePittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Rhetorical question
I have read some really terrible reviews in the Voice lately. J. Hoberman called Indians "noble savages" [ "Mel Gibson Is Responsible for All the Wars in the World," December 612] and for some reason the paper doesn't see fit to offer an apology for that racist phrase. More recently, Garrett Kamps calls young women my age "chicks"
[ "Shop Till You Flop," December 1319] and claims that my ideas about sex are embodied in that disgusting creature named Paris Hilton. Am I right to assume that writers for your magazine can spit out any racist or sexist garbage they please and have the pleasure of seeing it in print? Crystal L.Augusta, Georgia

Staff writers wanted The Village Voice has openings for staff writers with experience in political and/or media reporting. We're looking for passionate, energetic journalists with well-developed narrative-writing skills and lots of story ideas. Please send cover letter, résumé, and clips to: David BlumEditor in Chief The Village Voice
36 Cooper Square
New York, NY 10003

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